


It's always been you

by solarcas



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Crying, Eleven is v understanding, Mikes kinda mean, Will is a Sad Gay, but it gets fixed, im bad at tagging oops, its so minor though, the party has movies nights sometimes, very small talk about abuse and bullying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-11
Updated: 2019-07-11
Packaged: 2020-06-26 07:38:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19763596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/solarcas/pseuds/solarcas
Summary: After a movie night, Will decides to come out to Mike but instead of talking, Mike leaves. There is some miscommunication but they figure their crap out eventually





	It's always been you

**Author's Note:**

> So I did my best at making everyone as in character as possible and I hope it worked lmao. I also didn't re-read it cause i finished as like 03h00 so sorry  
> More of me @ srovul on tumblr  
> Please leave feedback, its always very useful and nice  
> Enjoy! :)
> 
> SOME PARTS MAYBE BE TRIGGERING TO SOME AS THEY HAVE STRONG TALK ABOUT BREAKDOWNS AND CRYING. PLEASE BE SAFE WHILE READING.

"No matter how many times I watch Back to the Future, it never ceases to amaze me." Dustin says with a sigh, finishing off the popcorn in the bowl. Mike, Will, and Dustin had taken over the couch while Max, El, and Lucas were on the floor. They all talked for a little before Lucas spoke up.

"Okay, it's getting super late, my mom will have my ass if i'm not home soon." The others began getting up as well. 

"Do you need any help cleaning up?" El says, clinging to Max's arm.

"I think he is fine, I promised i'd stay to help." Mike says, getting up to hug her goodbye.

"I'm gonna head out too then," Dustin says, getting up to give everyone a hug. As everyone was leaving, Will began cleaning up. He took the popcorn bowl and empty cups to the kitchen and then stayed there at the sink, the ending credits of the movie still faintly playing, Mike saying his last goodbyes, and quiet footsteps making their way around the main room. He walked back out, turning off the movie as Mike folded up the blankets and put them in a pile.

"So, " Mike started. "It's been a while since it was just the both of us hanging out. It kind of feels like we drifted." He ended with a chuckle to lighten the sentence up a bit but both boys knew that it was true.

"Yeah, i'm sorry about that. I know I haven't been coming around as much anymore."

"It isn't because of that fight we had right? Cause look, I still feel bad-"

"It isn't about that Mike. I told you it was okay." Will took a deep inhale of breath, suddenly scared to talk to his best friend. "I actually need to tell you something. You can't tell anyone, not even the party."

"No, I won't."

"I-" His hands were shaking uncontrollably and he felt his heart racing. "I think I might be gay." The room fell silent, the only noise being Will's fast, deep, breaths.

"I- I didn't know." Mike showed no emotion but wouldn't meet Will's eyes.

"You're not mad, right-"

"I have to go. Curfew was a little bit ago, my mom will be pissed." He rushed out, interrupting Will. Tears filled his eyes quickly and Mike was gone before they could say a proper goodbye. As soon as the door closed, he let out a deep sob, rapid breaths following.

"Shit." He muttered quietly, rocking back and forth, attempting to ease his brain. He got up quickly and began pacing, anger flowing through his veins. He wasn't angry at Mike for his reaction but angry at himself for being how he was. It wasn't common to be gay and it definitely wasn't something people showed proudly in Hawkins.

"God Damnit!" He ran to his room, kicking his door shut and grabbing on to his hair trying to ground himself. "First I fucking so missing, then I get my body taken over by the damn mind flayer, the boy I like doesn't like me back, and the only person I told I was gay to left." He sobbed to no one. He put up his hand and closed it tightly in a fist, making quick contact with the wall by his closet. Broken sobs left him as he fell to the ground, attempting to forget about it all. Forget he was gay, Forget Mike Wheeler. Forget the party and relationships and Hawkins and a better life.

He began crawling steadily to his bed, getting in so burying himself in his duvet. Slowly, sleep got to him quickly and he was out.

"Will, honey," Joyce says, knocking on Will's door. "Dustin is on the phone." He let out a small groan of frustration, getting out of bed quickly and leaving his room. He said a small thanks to his mom and grabbed the phone and put it to his ear.

"Yeah?" He could tell he sounded more drained then usual. And looked it to. He tried to forget it and continue with the call before Dustin noticed. "Whats up?"

"You weren't picking up on the walkie so i decided to call. We are going to Starcourt for the Grand opening, wanna join?"

"Okay, when we meeting up?"

"We were thinking around 12?"

"Sounds good. See you then." He hung up quickly and made his way back to his room before hearing his mother call out to him.

"What did he want?"

""Just wondering if I wanted to go to the mall for the new opening." He says slowly, cautious because of what happened at Starcourt before it got burnt down.

"Oh," Joyce says quiet;y, focusing on the television.

"Is that okay?"

"Its okay. I hope you have fun." She turns slightly, giving him a small smile before he rushes off again to get ready.

When he arrived at the mall, he was surprised to find it wasn't too packed with people. He saw his group of friends quickly and made his way over.

"Will the Wise!" Lucas yells as soon as he sees him. The girls shoot him smiles and Dustin gives him a quick high five while Mike stay, his arm around Eleven. They all make their way into the mall, having small talk on the way to certain stores.

"Let's re-live last summer and go to Scoops Ahoy?" Mike suggests, earning positive replies from the group. They get their ice-cream and slide into a big booth quickly before talking emerges. Will stays fairly quiet, talking when talking to, but payed attention to the couple in front of him. Every once in a while Mike would sneak in a peck to El and share his ice-cream with her. It was obvious that Mike was avoiding him but it still hurt.

"You're being fairly quiet, Will," El says quickly. "Is everything alright." Will looks down at his hands, not liking the sudden attention from the group. He meets Mike's eyes and speaks fast.

"Just a rough night." His voice was raspy, eyes drained. He started getting out of the booth as he finished talking. "I think i'm just going to go. I'll talk to you guys later." Tears fill his eyes quickly and with one last glance at Mike, he is leaving before anyone can change his mind.

The trip back to his house was silent, tears still going down his face occasionally, being cooled by the breeze of his bike. All he thinks about is how they don't care. Mike won't talk to him, all because of something he can't change so the others probably won't either. After the thinking he did on the ride home, he decided to tell his mother.

"Mom?" He calls out, face tear stained, voice broken.

"In here," she calls back. "Is everything okay?" He makes his way to the kitchen where she is sat working on some papers. She gets up as soon as she looks at Will but he hugs her before she can speak.

"I need to talk to you." He says between hiccups. They separate, Joyce sat on one side of the table and Will at the other. "Mom, I think- I think I am gay." Tears roll steadily down his face again but he keeps his head down, scared of her reaction.

"Will, honey," She says calmly, grabbing her son's hand. "You know I still love you right? This doesn't change that you are my son." She gets up, pulling Will with her and crashes them into a hug.

"Mike won't talk to me mom," He cries. "I told him and now he won't talk to me." He shushes him and strokes his hair comfortingly.

"He'll come around, I know he will."

A few days later, the party could tell that Will was isolating himself. Will was home alone while Johnathan and Joyce were at work when the phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey! It's Lucas."

"Oh, hey. Whats up?"

"Nothing. We are having another movie night but its gonna be at Mike's. You down?"

"Sure. I'll be there around 7?"

"Nice! Can't wait, dude," Lucas squeals over the phone. "Its gonna be epic!"

"Its just a movie night dude, not a party. Don't get too excited."

"Sorry. Hey, there's another call coming in but we'll see you tonight?"

"For sure."

"Nice!" The call hangs up almost immediately and Will is left to get ready for a night he is dreading. He quickly showers, changes, and writes a note, tapping it to the fridge so his family knew where he was. He rode his bike to Mike's, no longer afraid of going down certain roads by himself. He knocked three times at the front door letting everyone who was there know he was there. When the door opened, everyone was there but Dustin, who was running late from snack duty.

The film had been playing for a little while before everyone went their owns ways talking. El and Max were talking while Lucas and Dustin had a heated disagreement about the movie plot. Mike turned his head slowly, trying to meet Will's eyes.

"Will-"

"I need to use the bathroom." He responds coldly, getting off the couch quickly, making it to the bathroom before tears spilled from his eyes. He closed the door quietly and made his way to the sink, looking at his reflection in the mirror above it.

"You are not going to cry, Will Byers." He says to his reflection. "There is nothing to cry about. Don't be a damn baby near everyone, they don't care for that." He roughly wiped at his eyes, splashing water on his face and walking out. When he got back to everyone, they were all situated, cuddled on different pieces of furniture. He sat on the floor, away from Mike and Eleven and faced the screen playing the movie. He couldn't stop himself from looking at everyone around him. Dustin was practically cuddled to Lucas' side who had Max in his arms. Mike and Eleven weren't paying much attention to the movie, sharing slow kisses and whispered conversations. Ms. Wheeler's voice called from the top of the stairs, startling them all.

"Mike?"

"Yeah, Mom?" He called back.

"Is Will down there? His mother called, said he should be getting home."

"Yeah." Everybody's eyes landed on Will before Mike pecked El and spoke up again. "How about I walk you out?"

"No, it's okay." He managed to get out before Mike stood up. "Thanks for having me guys. I'll be in touch."

"Everything okay, man?" Lucas calls out quickly.

"Yeah. It's fine." He responded shortly. "I'll talk to you guys later." He started walking up the stairs, seeing Ms. Wheeler in the kitchen on his way out.

"Have a good night, Ma'am." He spoke quietly.

"You too, Will. Tell your Mom I said Hi." 

"Will do." They shared small smiles before he made his way out the door and got onto his bike.

"Okay, thanks again for coming guys," Mike spoke to the group after the movie had ended. "El and I will finish cleaning up."

"Thanks man," Dustin said, patting him on the shoulder. "I wish Will would have stayed for a bit longer, though." The rest of the group sighed in response, agreeing with him.

"I mean if he is busy, we can't change that." Mike says, putting his arm around El.

"Whats going on between you guys anyway?" Max replies. "It's obvious that something happened."

"It's nothing." He mumbles coolly.

"Okay," Lucas speaks up. "Let's head out." Everyone says their goodbyes before its just Mike and Eleven left in the basement by themselves. He pulls her in again and goes for a kiss but she stops him before they meet.

"I think we should talk, Mike."

Will thought about all of the reasons why his mom would have him come home early from Mike's but tries to stay positive; if it was something urgent, he would know. He made his way up the drive, putting his bike by the house and going in.

"Mom? I'm home." He called. Quickly, Joyce walked into the room, hugging her son.

"Hey, how was Mike's?"

"It was fine, what happened?" He speaks worriedly. "Why'd I come home early?"

"Just- based on what you told me I thought that you would be a little uncomfortable there before you guys fixed things. I'm sorry."

"No, I am kind of glad you did it." He grimaces. "I can't stand seeing him make-out with her every second." He tells her that he is gonna get ready for bed and makes his way towards his room, trying to forget about everything that happened.

"El, just tell me if I did something wrong." Mike says sadly. "Please."

"I know you are having issues with Will and it's none of my business but its effecting how we act and that isn't okay." She looks at him seriously. "You can't just show me extra love when something goes wrong, it isn't fair to me or anyone around us, Mike." Mike looks at the floor like its the most interesting thing he had ever seen.

"So we are just over?" He asks sadly.

"Just tell me what is going on with you and Will and after we figure it out and get your head out of your ass, maybe we can be fine."

"I can't tell you, I promised not to tell."

"Then we can't go on cause its obviously something you care about."

"i don't care about it," He tries meeting her eyes. "I swear, El."

"I don't believe that Mike. And I know you don't either."

"I-." He starts slowly, knowing he is going to regret this. "You tell anyone, and I mean anyone, I won't forgive you and I doubt he will either."

"You have my promise."

"Will is gay."

"Okay?" Pure confusion melts onto her face, taking in what he said. "Do you like him?"

"What?! He is my best friend El!'

"I'm just asking, okay? I just don't think that you would be this effected if-"

"I'm not gay, Eleven. I- I love you." He stumbles on his words as he speaks.

"What? Do you think being gay is wrong? There isn't something wrong with Will, you know. All he did was let you know a bit more about what he was struggling with and all I can guess is that you just left him after he said it."

"I-"

"Don't try to fix it, Mike. I don't care if you are gay or bisexual or what but you have obvious feelings for him that are effecting us so we can not be together," She huffs out a breath taking a step forward, putting her hands on his shoulders. "And for damn sake, either tell him how you feel when you apologize or just let him in. He misses you and you miss him." She pulls him into a quick hug.

"I'm sorry." Tears shine in Mike's eyes as he talks, emotion flooding his veins.

"Don't apologize. Just make things right." She begins to leave, keeping Mike by himself. He has to talk to Will. It's only fair and he messed up bad.

Mike reluctantly pick up the phone and dials the Byers' number, hoping for someone to answer.

"Hello?" Joyce answers from the other line.

"Hey, I'm sorry to call. It's Mike Wheeler. Is Will home?" He can't keep panic out of his voice as he speaks, the phone trembling in his hand.

"Did something happen?"

"No, I just-" He exhaled for a while, gathering this thoughts before speaking again. "I just messed up badly and I need to talk to him as soon as possible."

"Oh," She sighs. "Well, I'm leaving for work right now but Will should be home all day, just stop by."

"Thank you, Ms. Byers." They finish saying goodbye before he hangs up and makes his way to the door, being stopped by his sister.

"No, Mike. They said you can't leave the house while they are gone."

"I have to," His voice broke, tears shining in his eyes. "I need to talk to Will."

"Shit, Mike." She puts a hand on his shoulder. "Just be home before they are, please or both of our asses will be kicked." He gives a small smile and nod, opening the door to get onto his bike and make his way to Will's house.

Will has a film playing when he hears a small knock at his door. Slowly, he makes his way to the door, opening it to find Mike.

"I need to talk to you," He says, tear track on his face. Will goes to the side, letting him in before he even thought about asking him why.

"What's going on, Mike?"

"We haven't been ourselves and we need to talk about it if we ever want to go back to normal." Will can tell that Mike isn't planning on talking about the tear tracks on his face so he forgets about it. 

"No shit, we haven't been ourselves?" Will bites at him. "I wonder why?"

"Why are you being so cold to me, what the hell?"

"Maybe because you left, Mike! You left the one time I needed you the most! I told you I was gay! You didn't say anything, Mike you just left. What the hell am I supposed to think when my best friend leaves after I tell him something so damn important!"

"I didn't-"

"Let me finish talking Mike!" Mike is taken aback by the outburst but makes no move to stop him. "Life was going damn well fine. You had a girlfriend, a happy family, a good group of friends. You had the whole fucking package! I didn't have that kind of shit Mike! I had years of abuse from my dad, then he left, bullying, being taken over by a fucking entity that shouldn't be real and I am so drained and I finally think its going to be okay so I tell my best friend my biggest secret and what does he do?! He fucking leaves and the next time we hang out, pretends I don'y exist. I can live with you not accepting me Mike but as soon as you pretend i'm invisible just like everyone used to, that when it gets fucked up." Both boys were crying, Mike at a loss of words and Will panting from his outburst.

"You should have talked to me-"

"How do I talk to you when you were the one who left! You didn't care! You didn't accept me, you gave up!"

"I do accept you Will! I had some things to admit to myself first and-"

"What? That you'll have a queer friend?"

"That I fucking love you!" The room grew silent for a second. "I always have and I couldn't admit it."

"What about El?"

"She knows about my feelings, we're over."

"But you said you loved her. I remember-"

"I didn't, Will. It was you who I loved, this whole damn time it's always been you." He took a deep breath and walked toward the smaller boy.

"Now can we stop fighting? I need a damn hug." Will chuckled sadly but walked into Mike's outstretched arms quickly.

"Don't do that kind of shit again, dumbass." Will says, the words muffled by Mike's shirt.

"What?" Mike responds, a small smile playing on his face.

"Leave. Just-" He wraps his arms around Mike's middle tighter. "Don't do it again."

"I would never." They stay there, wrapped in each others arms in the Byers' kitchen, crying but this time they are happy tears. Happy that everything will work out, that it has worked out.


End file.
